A very Doofensmirth Christmas Carol
by moonbird
Summary: A special little holiday fun story, created as a special gift for the TGWTG yearly secret santa game


_Authors Note; This is a ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Forum Secret Santa gift especially made for Ka-dia! _

_Well, Ka-dia, I visited your deviant account and figured you were a Phineas and Ferb fan, which I am to, so I decided to give you some-thing related to that! a brand new, original writte, Phineas and Ferb Christmas Special "A very Doofensmirth Christmas Carol." naturally, based on the classic Charles Dickens story of "A christmas Carol." _

_I'll hope you'll like it and I hope you'll enjoy._

_Merry Christmas, Moonbird a.k.a. The Red Suitcase a.k.a. Sofie _

* * *

><p>Major Monogram was dead to begin with.<p>

Or actually he wasn't, he was fine really, he didn't even have a cold or anything. He was as spunky and alive as ever.

But for the sake of the story, we are going to put him in a coma, goodnight Major Monogram.

In life, Monogram had been business partners with one Doctor Heinz Doofensmirth, or something like that. Having placed several cameras around Doofensmirth's apartment and taking great pleasure in watching the Doctor's most embarrassing moments, Monogram was probably the one who knew Doofensmirth the best. The more so because of the fact that no one really cared about the evil scientist… at all.

Once again it was Christmas in the tri-state area.

The city was covered in snow and filled with light, children were running around laughing, looking forward to spending Christmas with their family, it was the happiest time of the year.

But of course, every city had its own Scrooge, who would sneer and hiss humbug, sucking out the joy out of his surroundings. And in this area they had their own evil scientist to do that as he sulked in his apartment refusing to acknowledge the season.

"THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!" yelled Heinz Doofensmirth in glee... hey, wait a minute... DOCTOR! You are not supposed to like Christmas!

"But don't you see? This is the first year I truly and honestly hate Christmas! Because last year was a disaster you know, and this year I can destroy it for sure."

I don't care! I have a story to voice-over.

"Oh, hardly, hah! It's Christmas, give me a break! I have my own life to live you know... sort of... hey, who are you anyway and how come I can talk to you?"

Urh... as you can see Doofensmirth just hated Christmas.

"True to that!" Doofensmirth smiled satisfied. "For the first time ever, I really _do_ hate Christmas!"

And since the Doctor was a failure and had no budget, he did not have an underpaid assistant, so that part we can skip.

"HEY!"

He did however have a lovely daughter, who was always so goodhearted and kind, just like now when she knocked on the door before stepping in.

"Hey dad," Vanessa greeted.

"Vanessa, I'm so glad to see you," Doofensmirth grinned happily. "I didn't even know you were coming. Come, come, what gives?" he asked immediately laying down his project.

"Well," Vanessa sighed. "Mum doesn't believe you have anyone to spend Christmas with and stuff, and she feels a bit bad about it, so she sent me over to ask if you would come and celebrate Christmas," she rolled her eyes, "with us."

"Well, Vanessa that's very sweet, and I would be happy to come, really!" Doofensmirth stated at once. "But I have other plans you see, this year I really do have ill feelings towards Christmas, so I have a reason to drown the entire city in plum cake!" he gestured at his big catapult-like contraption filled with plum cake.

Not impressed Vanessa eyed the thing up and down. "Plum cake?"

"What?" Doofensmirth asked. "Everybody hates plum cake, don't they? This is going to totally ruin Christmas for everyone. No one, not even Perry the Platypus will be able to stop me this time!"

Vanessa groaned and rolled her eyes. "Never mind, why did I even ask? Dad, just so you know, if you change your mind we'll save a seat for you or something, and I..." Vanessa sighed deeply. "You know, I would also like you rather came and spend Christmas with us instead of celebrating alone." She took off her backpack and from it drew a large square package with red wrapping and golden Christmas band. "This is for you," she handed the package to Doofensmirth, "found and bought it myself this year."

"Oh Vanessa, you shouldn't have," Doofensmirth accepted the package with a warm smile. "Your mother has your gift from me, she'll give it to you on Christmas, you'll know it when you see it," he winked.

"I bet," Vanessa rolled her eyes before giving her father a hug. "Love you dad, try and have a merry Christmas."

"Love you too, Vanessa," Doofensmirth accepted the hug only too gladly. "And I will, don't worry! PLUM CAKE DISASTER FOR ME!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes again and collected her backpack. "See ya dad," she waved as she exited the door.

"BYE VANESSA!" Doofensmirth waved after her. Suddenly, a small scout girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere looking at him with large begging eyes.

"Oh no," Doofensmirth exclaimed at the sight of her. "Now where did I put that invisibility ray!" he hissed trying to avert his eyes from her.

"Hallo sir," the scout girl bowed. "My name is Isabella and I'm collecting for our Christmas fund for those who are less fortunate than us. Please, give us a small donation."

"Oh fine," Doofensmirth grunted searching in his pocket where he found his very slim wallet. "And I thought a Scrooge is supposed to be rich," he mumbled sorting through it until he found a small note and popped it in the open sack. "Now go away!" he demanded. "Shoo!"

"Thank you, sir!" the scout girl bowed lightly before happily skipping down the hallway and to the next door.

"Oh for the love of," Doofensmirth groaned slamming the door closed and turned around. "Let's see, we skipped the underpaid employee, since I don't have one, we had the family run in and the fund raiser. Yeah, that would be the first act of a Christmas carol, so where's the ghost?" he grimaced sourly placing his hands on his hips. "Oh well, I guess I'll just sit down and have something to eat," he grumbled plopping down into a big green armchair in front of the fire with a bowl of porridge and started shovelling it in for the couple of seconds it took the sun to drop down behind the horizon. "Huh," Doofensmirth blinked. "Night already?"

"Doofensmirth," a hoarse voice whispered suddenly. "DOOOOOFENSMIRTH!"

"Who's there?" Doofensmirth asked turning around. "Hallo? Anyone?" he squirmed uncomfortably. "Hallo?" he asked again.

"DOOFENSMIRTH!" the voice sounded again making him jump up and hide behind his chair.

"Please! Don't hurt me!" he shrieked.

"Oh stop being a baby," Major Monogram appeared suddenly in the middle of the living room, all shiny and transparent.

"Major Monogram?" Doofensmirth blinked. "But how can you be a ghost? You aren't even dead, or are you?" he asked delicately.

"A hologram perhaps?" Monogram informed him with a raised eyebrow, "but just for the sake of getting this dumb story over with, let's play along." He sighed. "You Doofensmirth shall learn to appreciate and enjoy Christmas, blah-blah-blah, something along those lines. And you shall be haunted by three ghosts."

Doofensmirth just blinked once.

Monogram shook his head. "Alright, listen, you'll be haunted by three ghosts, the ghosts of past, present and future Christmas, which will somehow teach you to appreciate Christmas. Any questions?"

Slowly Doofensmirth raised a hand.

"Yes?" Monogram sighed.

"What kind of game is this?" Doofensmirth asked. "I spent so many years trying to learn how to hate Christmas, and I finally do! And now you are going to ruin Christmas for me just like that? What's the deal?"

Monogram rolled his eyes. "Just go with it," he demanded. "Monogram out." And he was gone.

"Huh?" Doofensmirth blinked. "So I guess I'll just wait here or something," he grumbled tapping impatiently with his foot. "Okay, show up already!"

And where Monogram had just been another glowing ghost appeared. This time it was a bespectacled teenager. "Hallo, my name is Carl and I will be your ghost of the Christmas past for the evening," he presented himself.

"Really?" Doofensmirth lifted an eyebrow. "That's all they could come up with? A nerdy kid?"

"Hey! I'm a fully integrated part of this show!" Carl defended himself. "I even have fan-girls!" he stated pulling out a pink letter with hearts on it before stuffing in back.

"Oh, man," Doofensmirth groaned. "Even the nerdy kid got fan-girls! How come I don't have any?"

"Don't worry sir; you are all the fat middle-aged nerds' favourite character!" Carl assured him.

"Oh geez, thank you," Doofensmirth rolled his eyes. "But I know, I know, I'm everybody's favourite character, move on please."

"Yes sir," Carl nodded. "I'm going to take you back to relive your past."

"Oh no, anything but that!" Doofensmirth groaned.

"Afraid of seeing the light? The happiness you have forgotten?"

"No, I hate to relive the misery!" Doofensmirth stated. "Everything about my past has been horrible! Which gives me plenty of material to work with, but that doesn't mean I like to wallow, or actually I do... whatever!"

"Well sir, are you ready to go?"

"Fine, let's do it," Doofensmirth rolled his eyes. "Thought, I don't see what you think you'll accomplish," he grumbled when Carl grabbed his sleeve.

"You'll see the world in a whole new light! I promise."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Doofensmirth snorted as the world around them turned white and they flew across an empty void, before landing firmly on the floor of what looked like a bare old room. There was not much in there, merely a closet, a drawer and a bed, everything was old and worn out, but cosy nonetheless.

"Welcome to your first Christmas!" Carl announced with his arms spread wide, but then stopped and blinked. "Hey, wait a minute, something is wrong here! I should have brought you straight to your first Christmas."

Doofensmirth rolled his eyes. "You did," he informed him and shuffled towards the drawer to pull out the lowest section where in a baby lay sleeping. "Aww, look how cute I was," he smiled.

Stunned, Carl went over to have a look, and yes, it was indeed Doofensmirth.

"What?" Doofensmirth asked defensively. "My parents didn't have much, they couldn't afford a crib, so the underwear drawer it was. That was very considerate of them!" he crossed his arms.

"Er... right," Carl blinked. "Where are your parents?"

"Out. Getting stinking drunk in some traditional Dusseldorfian boozer, what else? It was nice to just be left alone in my cosy drawer, really! I didn't mind."

"Okkaay," Carl scratched the back of his head. "Let's just get moving, shouldn't we?" he snapped his fingers for them to change location, and they landed in the middle of a forest. "Huh, where are we now?" he blinked in confusion.

"Oh, look, it's Ocelot!" Doofensmirth cheered and pointed at a big striped cat. "It's from the Christmas I was abandoned," he explained when a small version of himself toddled up to the cat and scratched it behind its ear. "Ocelot was the best adoptive parent ever!" he sighed wistfully.

Carl didn't even comment, but snapped his fingers again to change locations. They landed in front of another small version of Doofensmirth, standing outside dressed up as a lawn gnome completely stiff and afraid to move even as much as an inch. "OH, COME ON!" Carl yelled in frustration. "Was there even one childhood Christmas that was not a day of misery?"

"What do you mean with _a__day_ of misery?" Doofensmirth raised an eyebrow. "That's everyday life. And look, I got to actually hold a light because it was Christmas and everything. That was nice. No reason to hate Christmas at all."

"Then they are actually true?" Carl stared astounded, "all the sad childhood stories to explain your evil schemes?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Doofensmirth asked.

"I thought you were just making them up for the occasion!"

"Why would anyone do that?" Doofensmirth frowned. "They need to be real and legitimate or people would see right through them."

"So neither of your parents showed up to your birth?" Carl asked.

"Yeah, I know, weird, isn't it?" Doofensmirth grinned, but then scowled at something. "Oh no, Only-son," he groaned at the sight of a giant dog waltzing towards himself. "Leave little me alone!"

"The dog is called Only-son?" Carl palmed his face in resignation. "You know what, go ahead and be an evil scientist trying to ruin Christmas. Honestly, I don't think you had a choice in the matter, come on, let's get moving," he snapped his fingers. "I'm so done with your miserable childhood." They landed in a huge room filled with people. "Okay, now we must be somewhere in your youth."

"I know where we are," Doofensmirth lightened up. "It's from before I went full-time evil, it was just a part time gig then, and well, it's the shelter's Christmas celebration."

"Don't you go there if you don't have anyone to celebrate with? Or are homeless?"

"Hey, for the record, I was not homeless," Doofensmirth stated with crossed arms. "It's just not every day that you can get free goose _and_a present just for showing up." They saw his younger self standing in the crowd, holding a cup of Christmas tea and actually looking rather lost there.

"I suppose this Christmas has a significance of some kind," Carl raised an eyebrow and pulled out a notebook to flip through it. "Ah yes, here it is, it was arranged by the incredibly wealthy Tyler family, because of publicity and all, and they came down for press photos dragging their daughter with them."

"Charlene," Doofensmirth sighed already having spotted the young woman among the crowd. "I forgot that she had longer hair back then, it really suits her." The young woman seemed incredibly annoyed by her parents, who didn't even look at her, or anyone else for that matter, so she just turned and walked away aiming for the punch bowl. "Charlene couldn't stand her family," Doofensmirth remembered. "She almost never talked about them and kept my family name when we divorced." Suddenly, young Charlene bumped straight into the young Doofensmirth making him fall backwards into the punch bowl standing on the table behind him.

The older Doofensmirth groaned. "Way to make a first impression."

"Well, at least you caught her attention," Carl pointed out.

"I'm so sorry!" Charlene gasped and was all over his younger self at once. "I didn't see you!"

"It's all right, it's all right," the younger Doofensmirth got himself back on his feet wobbling somewhat. "No damage done, see," he gestured at himself before his eyes fell on Charlene and he suddenly halted. "Er... hi," he fumbled nervously.

Charlene blinked and then smiled amused. "Hi," she responded.

"I er... what I mean is, er..." the younger Doofensmirth hesitated. "You... no I..."

"Would you like to dance?" Charlene asked suddenly.

Wide-eyed Doofensmirth merely stared at her, before pointing at himself in astonishment.

"I did send you straight into the punch bowl, I think I can at least to dance with you," Charlene pointed out amused.

"Ahh," the elder Doofensmirth sighed wistfully, "to be young again."

"And you let that get away from you?" Carl asked. "The shame."

"Did not!" Doofensmirth shot back. "We _were_ married we _have_ a daughter! And she left me because she thought we had too little in common, or something like that," he grumbled sourly. "Okay, we never actually talked that much, but we did have some good times, didn't we?"

"Oh," Carl blinked. "Well, one last trip then, sorry, but I'm just curious and would like to see it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Doofensmirth rolled his eyes as Carl snapped his fingers. They landed in a warm and cosy looking room, a glorious Christmas tree stood in a corner where an older Charlene was bowing down in search of a present.

And on the floor sitting cross-legged with a little, adorable girl on his lap was Doofensmirth, looking happier than ever.

"Ah, this is what I needed to see," Carl sighed relived watching the younger Doofensmirth bouncing the giggling little girl up and down. "See Doctor Doofensmirth, you shouldn't hate Christmas."

"I'm an evil scientist, I'm supposed to hate Christmas," Doofensmirth pointed out. "And I didn't until last year! I told you already that my early Christmases were fine!"

"So this entire thing was pointless?" Carl scratched the back of his head again.

"Yes!" Doofensmirth nodded exasperated. "Although," his eyes fell on his younger self and little Vanessa. "That there, that was worth it all." He sighed. "She's so beautiful little Vanessa, isn't she?"

"She's just an ordinary two-year old," Carl shrugged.

"What are you talking about! Vanessa is the most beautiful little angel you will ever see!" Doofensmirth exclaimed as if Carl had uttered the worst kind of insult ever.

"Well, I guess my work is done here," Carl shrugged snapping his fingers. The cheerful scene disappeared and they were back in Doofensmirth's apartment.

"Hey wait!" Doofensmirth exclaimed. "I would have liked to stay a bit longer! I mean back here it's so cold and... I'm somewhat lonely and..." But looking around Doofensmirth suddenly realised that Carl was gone. "How rude," he snorted plopping down in his chair. "Didn't even say goodbye!" he mumbled sadly resting his chin on his hand. "What next?"

Just on time for someone to manifest themselves a good three feet over the floor and fall down as gravity took hold. "Oh I'm so going to bust you Phineas and Ferb!" It was a red-haired teenage girl. "Can you believe it? They were supposed to make me a ghost and screwed it up!" she ranted getting up and brushing off her dress.

Doofensmirth blinked. "And you are?"

"Candace Fletcher, your ghost of Christmas present for tonight, or whatever," Candace rolled her eyes.

"You don't want to do this any more than I do, do you?" Doofensmirth grinned at the girl.

"No, not really," Candace grimaced. "Sadly, a signed contract is a signed contract, so Christmas special it is."

"Damn those specials!" Doofensmirth stood up from the chair. "Well? Show me the present then."

"Fine," Candace sighed snapping her fingers, and suddenly they stood outside on a snow covered street.

"There's no one here," Doofensmirth pointed out.

"Of course there isn't!" Candace huffed. "Everybody is inside celebrating Christmas! What else would they do? Walk around wishing random people Merry Christmas?"

"I guess not," Doofensmirth shrugged. "But oh boy, you just wait! Soon they all will have a ruined Christmas! When I shoot up the plum cake and cover the streets! Everybody will cry in despair!"

Candace merely gave him a disbelieving look. "Plum cake? Really?"

"What?" Doofensmirth asked defensively.

Candace sighed deeply. "Come on," she grabbed Doofensmirth's sleeve. "Let's have a look at what your family's up to." And they landed in a small room packed with people.

"Hey, it's mum and dad!" Doofensmirth exclaimed, but then he sneered suddenly. "And Roger."

"Say," Roger blinked. "The entire family is here, but it's like there's someone missing."

"Gee, thanks bro," Doofensmirth drawled sarcastically.

"No, I must be imagining things, we are all here!" Roger stated and the rest of them nodded.

Doofensmirth slammed his hand on the table. "Now I can't wait to destroy their Christmas!"

"Okay, that's just sad," Candace commented. "Let's get out of here." She snapped her fingers and they stood in another room.

"What? Here again?" Doofensmirth recognised the big open room with the large tree in it. Vanessa was there, but as a teenager this time, sitting by the tree and neatly arranging the gifts.

"Aww," Doofensmirth could not help himself. "How do they grow up so fast?"

Candace shrugged. "It just happens."

"So will your father come?" Charlene asked from the kitchen busy with a bowl of stew.

"You really shouldn't count on it," Vanessa stated as she put a small blue box on top of the red one. "He's too busy being evil and all that."

"Vanessa, stop it, your father is not evil," Charlene scolded lightly. "He's just a bit eccentric."

"Well, he's sure trying hard," Vanessa shot back.

"Vanessa, it's Christmas, give it a rest," Charlene demanded. "Are you sure we shouldn't go to the Doofensmirth family party?"

"Absolutely!" Vanessa stated rather firmly. "If dad changes his mind, then he can have a nice Christmas at least. There's no way for that to happen with his folks!"

"Whatever you say honey," Charlene rolled her eyes.

Doofensmirth gasped. "She's doing it for me? Even though she doesn't believe that I'll come? She's giving up family dinner for me?"

"Well, you loved her deeply all of her life, she had to return the favour whether she liked it or not," Candace stated. "Plus she's growing up. Who knows how many chances there would be for you two to spend Christmas together in the future?"

"I don't know what to say," Doofensmirth sniffed. "That's so sweet." He turned around to look out of the window. "Funny, you should think the plum cake thing would have happened already by now."

"Yeah, right," Candace sneered and snapped her fingers sending them straight back to the apartment. Doofensmirth saw his own double laying on the floor covered in plum cake and yelling, "CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUS!" The platypus merely tipped its hat before heading out of the door.

"Well," Doofensmirth sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised by that, should I?"

"No, not in the least," Candace agreed.

Doofensmirth furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "So, I would give up a nice Christmas dinner with my family, which may only happen that many times, to be beaten up by Perry the Platypus yet again, which, as fun as it sounds, is something I could just as well do some other time."

"You got it!" Candace smirked.

"Wonderful," Doofensmirth muttered sarcastically. "Please go away."

"My pleasure," Candace disappeared and with her did the mess of plum cake and the other pathetic looking Doofensmirth.

Doofensmirth sighed deeply standing completely alone in his apartment.

That was when the clock stroke once and the sound waves went through the entire apartment. By the second stroke Doofensmirth almost fell over and by the third a robe covered person appeared casting a shadow over him.

"Who... who are you?" Doofensmirth stammered frightened.

The creature let down its hood to reveal... a tiny platypus.

"Huh? A platypus?" Doofensmirth crooked his eyebrow.

The tiny animal put on an agent's hat.

"PERRY THE PLATYPUS!" Doofensmirth yelled in recognition, but then halted. "Oh, so you are my ghost of Christmas future?"

Perry merely nodded.

"So, you are going to show me some kind of bleak future that will happen if I don't start appreciating Christmas?" Doofensmirth sneered sarcastically.

Perry nodded again.

"What's the point?" Doofensmirth exclaimed throwing his hands up. "I know exactly how my future is going to turn out! I'll build the machines and you'll foil my plans and we'll continue like that until we are both old and wrinkled. And when I die no one would mourn me, since I wasted my time instead of spending it with the person I care for the most. End of story. Honestly, is there a point?"

Perry merely blinked watching Doofensmirth rant.

"But Perry, I'm fine with that, don't you see?" Doofensmirth explained. "I mean, sure yes, I wish I had more time with Vanessa, but I enjoy our little game it's... it's fun. And who knows, someday I might even win!" he grinned. "It's my life and I'm living it the way I want, I couldn't imagine anything else I'd rather do instead, really, I don't have any regrets, I always try my best! I've kept on fighting even though people told me to give up, and well maybe I'm not that much, nor am I in any way successful, but considering where I started from, not much is a way higher than most have expected. So really, I'm satisfied!"

Perry merely nodded and turned around heading for the door.

"Wait, was that it?" Doofensmirth blinked at him sheepishly.

Perry nodded.

"I'm still going to ruin Christmas! I'll just do it now instead of tomorrow!" Doofensmirth informed him. "Maybe then it's going to work!" he jumped up and sprinted towards the big machine, only to be stopped by Perry, who suddenly stood in front of him, cutting off his way.

"Perry the Platypus you are off duty," Doofensmirth insisted. "Let me through, come on, let it slip just this once, please. It's Christmas!"

But Perry didn't budge standing there ready to fight if necessary.

"Alright then, we'll fight!" Doofensmirth took a step towards him when suddenly Perry pulled out a familiar looking wrapped package.

"Vanessa's present!" Doofensmirth realised. "Give me that! It's mine!" he snatched it away from Perry narrowing his eyes.

Perry's eyes narrowed in return, but then the platypus eased up and relaxed smiling up at him.

"What?" Doofensmirth asked. "What do you want? Me to open it? But it's not Christmas yet!"

In response Perry pointed at the clock on the wall, which showed three in the morning.

"Huh, so it is," Doofensmirth acknowledged. "Oh, alright then, but afterwards we'll fight!" he stated putting the box on the table, unwrapping and opening it only to blink in confusion at what it contained. Doofensmirth reached into it and pulled out a big snow-globe with a tiny version of the tri-state area inside. Perry pulled on Doofensmirth's coat and pointed at the card attached to it. Slowly Doofensmirth opened the card to read out loud to himself.

"_Merry Christmas dad! I'm sorry, but it was a bit difficult to fit the real tri-state area into a box, so I got you a smaller version instead, which would fit on your shelf or desk by the way. Have fun owning your own tri-state area! Love, Vanessa."_

He sniffed his eyes watering while he held the snow-globe tightly in his arms. "Aww, darn it!" he yelled annoyed. "I really don't hate Christmas!" He sighed. "Alright Perry the Platypus, you win, no fighting on Christmas. Let me just hit the self-destruction button," he pressed the red button and the whole thing just exploded and was gone in mere seconds.

"There," Doofensmirth stated, "all done, no schemes on Christmas Day!"

Perry was on his way to the door a moment later.

"HEY!" Doofensmirth called after him. "Where do you think you are going?"

Perry turned around looking at him in question.

"Without your Christmas present," Doofensmirth clarified pulling a green package out of his lab coat and handing it to the platypus. "Merry Christmas!"

Curious Perry looked down at it.

"Now open it! I can't wait to see your face!" Doofensmirth was rubbing his hands in glee.

With a slight shrug Perry tore the wrapping away to find a pillow in seize slightly bigger than himself.

"It's a new sleeping pillow," Doofensmirth explained. "You know, I just thought it was so cold outside and everything, and the electrical warming blanket was already invented. So I just invented the electrical warming pillow for you, see here's the switch," he pointed down. "There are three levels, but be careful with the top one, it's not healthy to be exposed to that much warmth for long periods of time, and you would want to stay fit for the fights!"

Perry beamed and held out a package towards Doofensmirth as well.

"For me?" Doofensmirth accepted the blue, soft looking package and ripped it open. "A white lab coat!" he exclaimed happily. "I needed a new one indeed, how did you know?"

Perry merely shook his head in amusement, before making his farewells and returning home with his new pillow.

The next day Vanessa was sitting by the Christmas tree, neatly arranging the presents and sighing deeply.

"So will your father come?" Charlene asked from the kitchen busy with a bowl of stew.

"You really shouldn't count on it," Vanessa stated as she put a small blue box on top of the red one. "He's busy being evil and all that."

"Vanessa," Charlene began in a scolding tone, but was interrupted by the door bell. "Would you see who it is?" she asked her daughter then.

Vanessa nodded and went to open the door, and there in front of her stood her father.

"Hallo Vanessa," Doofensmirth greeted her smiling. "Is there still room for one more?"

"Of course dad!" Vanessa exclaimed stepping aside to let him in. "Mum were just asking about you! And we have a way too much food."

"Who is it?" Charlene's voice sounded from the kitchen.

"It's dad," Vanessa shouted back.

"So you could make it after all, Heinz," Charlene's voice greeted. "Make yourself at home, I'm a little busy."

"So no evil schemes today?" Vanessa asked when Doofensmirth hanged up his coat.

"No, not today, I will be back to it tomorrow thought," Doofensmirth assured her.

"What gives?"

"It just hit me you know, Christmas is only once a year and it's the only time we have an excuse to just sit down and have a nice time," Doofensmirth admitted honestly. "Let the society of evil talk about how I'm the only one not trying to ruin Christmas as much as they want. This is more important."

"Glad to hear it dad," Vanessa smiled leading him into the living room. "Want some cookies? I backed them myself!"

No, Doofensmirth decided, he really did not hate Christmas, and why should he? There were so many other things for him to hate and genuinely despise, so right now it was time to just let be and let live. After all, it was Christmas.


End file.
